In negative pressure chillers that use a low-pressure refrigerant, water-containing noncondensable gas (mainly air) and air enters the chiller and collects in the condenser and the like. In this state, the noncondensable gas raises the condensing pressure which may cause operation to fail, and the water may cause corrosion inside the chiller. Thus, conventional chillers are known that include a bleed device that discharges the noncondensable gas that has entered the chiller to the atmosphere (see for example Patent Documents 1 and 2).
For example, Patent Document 1 describes a configuration in which noncondensable gas is accumulated inside a purge condenser, and when the pressure inside the purge condenser rises so that the difference between it and the pressure in the condenser falls to a predetermined value, the noncondensable gas inside the purge condenser is discharged to the atmosphere.